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Just do

Just do

I don’t fondly remem­ber col­lege. I was in engi­neer­ing, and engi­neer­ing is hard. Dur­ing my sum­mer indoc course, we had two “wel­come” pre­sen­ta­tions. The first one was this long skit put on while the whole indoc class was present, and it was really bouncy and cheery, like some­how col­lege was all about the social aspect, with classes barely mentioned.

The next day I went to the engi­neer­ing cam­pus, and the wel­come was dif­fer­ent. We were brought into a room, the door shut, and the pro­fes­sor let us know that most peo­ple don’t last the first year in engi­neer­ing. He told us that we could expect to work hard with­out a lot to show for the first three years. But one thing that stuck out was him telling us to “Just do when you have a lot going on.”

Seems easy right? But it isn’t easy, at least for most people.

My work­day is pretty busy, and yet I get a lot done both at work and at home. I’m still amazed by the num­ber of peo­ple that say “I could never get all that done.” But I’m not spe­cial. I don’t have a high IQ, and I wasn’t a bril­liant savant in col­lege. I wasn’t blessed with a lot of money, and I didn’t have par­ents that spoke lots of lan­guages or taught me higher level math.

But what I do best is just do. Every­day, I focus efforts and make things hap­pen. Some­times it’s get­ting the fam­ily out the door for a trip. Other times, it’s replac­ing trucks and equip­ment at work. I take prob­lems, break them down, and just start doing the small pieces. It’s not easy, and I don’t “do” it right the first time, but there is some­thing to be said for just doing.

And yet, I see too many peo­ple that don’t “do” in their day to day life. From ship­yard work­ers to gov­ern­ment bureau­crats, I’ve seen peo­ple spend their days not get­ting much done. They also tend to be unhappy, even if they get paid well.

Doing leaves me with a sense of accom­plish­ment at the end of the day. Instead of ana­lyz­ing, strate­giz­ing, or some other “ing,” per­haps we need to get back to doing.

This post rep­re­sents the views of the author and not the Depart­ment of Defense, Depart­ment of the Navy, or any other gov­ern­ment agency.

I don’t fondly remember college. I was in engineering, and engineering is hard. During my summer indoc course, we had two “welcome” presentations. The first one was this long skit put on while the whole indoc class was present, and it was really bouncy and cheery, like somehow college was all about the social aspect, with classes barely mentioned.

The next day I went to the engineering campus, and the welcome was different. We were brought into a room, the door shut, and the professor let us know that most people don’t last the first year in engineering. He told us that we could expect to work hard without a lot to show for the first three years. But one thing that stuck out was him telling us to “Just do when you have a lot going on.”

Seems easy right? But it isn’t easy, at least for most people.

My workday is pretty busy, and yet I get a lot done both at work and at home. I’m still amazed by the number of people that say “I could never get all that done.” But I’m not special. I don’t have a high IQ, and I wasn’t a brilliant savant in college. I wasn’t blessed with a lot of money, and I didn’t have parents that spoke lots of languages or taught me higher level math.

But what I do best is just do. Everyday, I focus efforts and make things happen. Sometimes it’s getting the family out the door for a trip. Other times, it’s replacing trucks and equipment at work. I take problems, break them down, and just start doing the small pieces. It’s not easy, and I don’t “do” it right the first time, but there is something to be said for just doing.

And yet, I see too many people that don’t “do” in their day to day life. From shipyard workers to government bureaucrats, I’ve seen people spend their days not getting much done. They also tend to be unhappy, even if they get paid well.

Doing leaves me with a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. Instead of analyzing, strategizing, or some other “ing,” perhaps we need to get back to doing.

This post represents the views of the author and not the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.

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